BSC1010C Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Okazaki Fragments, Exonuclease, Dna Replication
Document Summary
Gen bio 10: it has not escaped out notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material. We imagine that prior to duplication the hydrogen bonds are broken, and the two chains unwind and separate. Each chain then acts as a template for the formation on to itself of a new companion chain, so that eventually we shall have two pairs of chains, where we only had one before. Moreover, the sequence of the pairs of bases will have been duplicated exactly. Dna must be copied before cells divide to permit the inheritance of genetic information: the duplication of dna to produce 2 identical copies is known as replication. Also known as synthesis: replication is semi-conservative because each of the progeny conserves half of the original dna molecule: End product is 2 double stranded dna molecules. Daughters consist of parental strand and 1 new strand.
